South Island trip Part 3: Te Anau /Manapouri /Queenstown

We based ourselves in Te Anau for 4 days, travelling to Milford and Queenstown on day trips. Te Anau was a lovely little lakeside town with very nice views of the mountains in the background.

Te Anau



Manapouri
Manapouri is 20 mins from Te Anau - I drove there to catch the ferry which goes across Lake Manapouri for the Manapouri power station tour.


Onboard the ferry across Lake Manapouri, with the Kepler mountains in the background.



Arrival at West Arm, Manapouri power station


It is New Zealand's largest hydro electric power station and built deep underground. There is no road access and the building of the power station was one of NZ's greatest engineering feats.


This tunnel took us underground to the power station.


Wilmot Pass - view of Doubtful Sound



Queenstown
Reputed to be the steepest lift in the Southern Hemisphere, the gondola takes you high above Queenstown for amazing views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables (mountain range) and across Lake Wakatipu.



Alice, Jacob and me with view of Queenstown and Remarkables.


Jacob and me having fun on the luge.


I couldn't get enough of the view of the Remarkables. It was really amazing.




Queenstown bay




Next - the Road to Milford, and Milford Sound (my favourite part of the trip!)

South Island trip Part 2: Dunedin/Catlins

From Christchurch, we drove to Dunedin where we spent another couple of days. One of the first things we did on arrival was to attempt to climb the World's Steepest Street (Baldwin St).


We made it, of course. Easily :)



The Dunedin Railway Station is apparently the most photographed building in New Zealand. It is indeed an architecturally interesting building.


The Taieri Gorge Railway
Jacob and me checking out the engine of the Taieri Gorge train.


Alice, Jacob and me posing in front of the Taieri Gorge train.


Alice and me aboard the train, all set to go!


They stop to let you off and you could walk across the viaduct...


...so that you could take a photo of the train coming across...


Alice opted for the Royal treatment and waved to us as the train went past...


The countryside was lovely.



The famous Reefs Hotel - out in the middle of nowhere, and nothing more than a tiny shack, this "Hotel" is also known as Mr Magoo's Hut.


Larnach Castle
We also visited Larnach Castle - NZ's only castle.


The view from the castle was beautiful - Otago harbour.


Castle tower.


The real Alice posing with a sculpture of "Alice in Wonderland" on the castle grounds.


The Catlins
The Catlins Coastal Heritage Trail stretches just outside of Balclutha (south of Dunedin) and takes you into Invercargill. It is a bit of a detour but well worth the extra time and petrol as it is very scenic.

We stopped for a short walk to view Matai Falls.


The Whistling Frog Cafe - an interesting frog themed cafe where we stopped for the mandatory caffeine boost.


We also stopped at Curio Bay to view the jurassic fossilised forest (also known as the Petrified Forest). Rather amazing. But it sure was wild and windy!!


Coming up next - Part 3: Te Anau, Manapouri and Queenstown!

South Island trip Part 1: Christchurch

Had a great time down south with Alice, Donna and Jacob. I'll be posting photos from the trip in parts - too many to share all at once! I'll post just the favourites.

Our first leg of the journey began in Christchurch. Alice and I travelled overland from Palmerston North to Wellington, took the ferry across to Picton, and journeyed on the bus into Christchurch. A long journey indeed - almost 10 hours in total, but quite scenic, particularly around the Kaikoura area. We stopped to watch some seals too!

CHRISTCHURCH
Visited the International Antarctic Centre and rode on the Hagglund (all terrian vehicle) and saw some Blue Penguins.





On our way to Akaroa, a historical French settlement on the Banks Peninsula (82km from Christchurch), we stopped to buy some cheap delicious cherries. Alice is showing off her bag of cherries.


Akaroa is a lovely seaside town set within a beautiful harbour. It was a warm summer afternoon when we arrived and we had fish and chips at the local shop.


Akaroa in the background.


This was our home away from home while we were in Christchurch. It's the "Kozy Kiwi" which is a 2 bedroom self contained unit. I shared the bunk with Alice and Donna and Jacob shared the double bed. Our transport for the trip - our trusty blue Mazda Familia.


Next post - Dunedin!

Summer and my roses

We had three hot sunny days in a row this week, prompting the more optimistic amongst us to declare (still somewhat cautiously): SUMMER is finally here!

It's been lovely, especially coming out of a long, dreary, wet and wild winter. The days are stretching out seemingly endlessly. The sun doesn't set till past 8pm. I was out mowing my lawn after work last night. The embarrassing thing was, I was in bed before it got dark!

Anyway - my roses are in bloom, as you can see from the photos here. The white roses are Iceberg Roses, right in front of my bedroom window.



I like these dark pink ones too.


And light pink roses: